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“I’d like to discover life,” Elaine Stritch told the New York Times, of her quiet last act. “Quite frankly I don’t know how to be happy. I have not a clue. I only serve — and I don’t say that with any grandeur. I just serve others through entertaining. That’s when I am happy. I’m not just delighted with myself when I’m entertaining, but I’m happier than when I’m not.”

Art isn’t easy. Neither is living. But what matters, at any age, at any juncture of your journey, is being alive.

Here’s to you, Ms. Stritch, who put the “broad” in Broadway and beyond. I shall live to serve — and preach — your salty gospel with pride.